


the road to you

by imnotanironwall



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - No RE:MIND, Angst, Death, Grief, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Suicide, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:21:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22617796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotanironwall/pseuds/imnotanironwall
Summary: When Kairi comes back but Sora doesn't, Riku goes on a journey to bring him back - and he'll do anything to see his friend again.(Read tags and notes, please)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15





	the road to you

**Author's Note:**

> **READ THE TAGS**
> 
> Please, **proceed with caution.**  
>  This work portrays a _NOT-okay_ way to deal with death - if you could even call it "dealing with". It contains themes such as death, grief and suicide. But in no way should it be read as a glorification of such things. If you are dealing with suicidal thoughts and/or depression, please consider consulting a therapist if you can afford it - stay safe and take care of yourself. I do not believe the suicide part is very graphic, it's mostly an understanding of the situation by the reader as it's a long process, but please be cautious! This work doesn't have a happy ending. [If you do want to read it until that part, please stop when Riku goes to sleep.]  
> 
> 
> This work was started pre-RE:MIND and do not take into account the Secret Ending of KH3, it can read as an AU to the DLC. Also, please know I love this character so so so much and I just wanted to explore a darker side of the story.

The months had been interminable. It had felt like an eternity, each day longer than the other. He struggled to keep himself busy during the wait, there were no more worlds to save, no darkness to defeat. He didn’t have the heart to go back to school to finish a curriculum he had mostly forgotten, and he wasn’t ready to help Master Aqua in the training of new and old wielders - not yet, his mind was too preoccupied with the disappearance of his own two idiots to have the energy to care for more. He missed his friends, deeply. 

He hadn’t received a single photo, a single text, in all the days Sora had been gone to look for Kairi. He kept telling himself they would be alright, after all, he was the one who convinced Mickey to let Sora go alone, but he started to doubt it. Something didn’t feel right.

It had started a few weeks ago. He had been agitated during the day, restless at night, turning in his sleep over and over again. It seemed like it would be another sleepless night - preferable to the nightmares, but not perfect either. His whole being was trembling, his heart rattling in the cage of his chest, something had felt wrong. When the sun had risen over the ocean, his eyelids heavy, he had been shaken wide awake as his back had burnt him, the pain so immense he had emptied his stomach on the sheets. When he had taken a look at his back, the mark of the dream eater was bright red. It stayed that way for the entirety of two days, preventing him to drift away and sleep, and then it was gone again, leaving behind but a faint scar.

He had kept it to himself, afraid of what the others would say - he was sure Master Aqua would call it a bad omen, but she had yet to recover from her time in the Dark World, he didn’t want to add to her worry. Since that day, he had felt antsy, constantly checking the horizon, trying to find Sora’s heart, sending him funny pictures and updates on everyone, hell, he had even tried to contact Kairi.

Nothing happened, of course. 

Until that day he found her on the island. At first, he didn’t believe his eyes. No one came on the island anymore, it was more his own lonely paradise, where he found refuge away from the nagging and attention of everyone. But there she was, her back turned to him, sitting on the paopu tree. He thought he had imagined her, a trick of the setting sun, a shadow, but as he walked towards her, eyes wide and breath caught in his throat, she appeared more clearly. She was there, _for real_.

In seconds, his feet had carried him to her, hands shaking as he reached towards her, a smile brighter than the sun on his lips, the first in what felt like forever.

But as he was about to call her name, her face turned towards him, and he saw the tears. Endless, pouring down her cheeks, lips trembling as she whispered his name. They weren’t happy tears. 

“K-Kairi?” He stepped in front of her, hands flying to her own, clutching her skirt until her knuckles turned white. “What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Her head hung low as she tried to suppress a choked sob. 

“-one”

“What?” He leaned forward, almost lying on her laps to properly hear her. But when she finally raised her head and he heard her words, he immediately regretted it.

“He’s gone, Riku.” He saw the hurt and the guilt in her eyes as her lips formed the words, but it slipped his mind as it struck him like a billion heartless. “Sora’s dead.”

  
  


He couldn’t believe her. If anything had happened to Sora, to that extent, he would have felt it. Their bond would have been broken, he would have _known_. Maybe he was hurt, or maybe his heart had taken refuge somewhere until he was able to come back, just like so many of their friends had done. There was no way he was dead - and he would prove it.

After storming off, he ran to where their gummiship was parked and he fled. There was no time to lose, Sora was out there and he needed to be saved, whether Kairi would help to do so or not. There were many places he could have gone to, but Riku had an inkling he should go where they last saw each other: The Keyblade Graveyard. He couldn’t remember exactly what happened there, some parts were still fuzzy, but he was sure something changed that day, that their bond deepened like never before. If he could find him on his own, that’s where he would find the answers.

The world was the same as they had left it. The wind picked up when he parked the ship, a cloud of sand forming as he jumped to the hard rocky ground. Massive stiff cliffs surrounded the unending badlands, kilometers of uninhabited and unchanged landscapes. It took a few minutes until the first keyblades appeared, sunk deep into the ground, unmoved since the war that first put them here. 

There was a faint trail on the ground that went past the Skein of Severance, that Riku bypassed with a deep frown. The track was thin, dust and sand having erased most of it, but he could still make out the trace of what must have been something big and heavy being dragged. It led him to the heart of the Keyblade Graveyard, where he had last seen Sora before the boy went on his adventurous quest to save Kairi - _alone_. 

The crossroad was much the same, and the trail suddenly stopped at the center, as if it had simply disappeared. There was nothing there. Nothing, except for _someone_. 

The person was sitting on the ground, facing away from Riku. They were looking at the setting sun, awaiting the night like a welcomed friend. The backlighting made it hard to distinguish color, but there was no one fool enough to get that haircut, except for one boy. One cherished and missed friend. Riku could have recognized that haircut anywhere.

A surge of relief and love flooded him, adrenaline coursing through his veins as he ran toward that figure, heart pounding in his chest. Of course, he had been right, he knew the boy like the back of his hand - he would always come back, they had promised to be together, finally. And he always kept his promise, no matter what it took.

He fell to his knees, arms wrapping around his friend. He hid his face in the crook of his neck and sighed in relief. “Sora!” He squeezed his eyes shut, stifling a sob. “I knew you couldn’t have disappeared. Kairi was wrong, you’re here.” He took a deep breath, body trembling at the thought that he was holding Sora, his rival, his friend, his childhood companion. He had been guided to him, just like he thought he would.

He breathed in again, and something struck him. Something was… odd. He inhaled, this time with another purpose, and he immediately realized what had seemed so strange: there was no smell. Not the scent of the sea, nor that of his paopu shampoo that he held so dearly. There wasn’t a trace of heartless goo in the hair nor the stench of sweat after battles fought. His skin and clothes had no perfume. _Nothing_. 

The guttural growl that followed his words and close inspection made him flinch and had he been more aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed how the body he was holding had been stiff at first, then shivering with -what now, he realized, was- rage. Riku quickly stood up and took a few steps back. Not only the individual didn’t smell like anything, but he also very clearly lacked Sora’s soft and light brown hair that plays with the wind and catches the sun with reflections of red. No. His hair was ebony, sucking in any ray of light that dared shine near him. 

“You’re not Sora.”

The boy got up, slowly turning towards Riku with a grin showing pointy teeth. “How perceptive.” He was wearing a suit of armor not dissimilar to one Riku had worn a few years prior and had a broken helmet at his feet. He had bright golden eyes that gave nightmares to Riku. He immediately summoned his keyblade.

“What have you done to him!?” He screamed as he took his stance, ready to strike. He was met with a shrug, empty palms raised to the sky.

“Nothing. He went and got himself killed and now I’m here.” He cocked his head to the side. Amused, he added, “That idiot didn’t want to listen and dived too far. His heart couldn’t make it.”

Riku’s frown deepened, his grip on his keyblade tightened. “Who are you?” 

“I am Vanitas,” he introduced himself, raising a hand to his chest. “The shadow that he cast. Thrown back where he last was before vanishing. Face it, Riku, you know he is gone.”

“Wha-” His grip loosened, his shoulders slumping slightly, taken aback by this stranger - so familiar but foreign - knowing his name. The resemblance was striking, so much it was confusing. How, why; and then he remembered. “Wait, Vanitas... You’re Ventus’s-”

“ _I’m_ Ventus’s? He was taken away _from me_.” His so far relaxed posture suddenly became tense, jaw clenching and eye twitching. “Your little friend couldn’t keep his heart away. Opened his hotel to every stray until he was full. And he paid for it. 

“ _Come with me_ , he says, and then discard me like trash when it gets too much. And I had to feel his heart shatter after saving his sorry ass from the Abyss. Ungrateful bastard.”

“Hey!” Riku raised his keyblade and pointed it at Vanitas’s throat, fists clenched tightly around it. “Don’t speak of Sora like that. Tell me where he is.” 

“A pair of deaf morons,” Vanitas growled. “He’s gone, vanished, faded. Never to be seen again. Who do you think put me there? You’re little bitty friend, so weak he took all my power and still _died_. And now I’m here and I can’t go anywhere because of that selfish jerk.”

In a fit of anger, Riku pushes his keyblade farther, now touching icy cold skin. “Stop it. Sora is somewhere. Don’t you dare talk about him like that.”

Vanitas hands jerked forward, fingers bending like claws around the weapon. The grin that split his face was horrifying, sharp and stretching _and stretching_ , eyes wide open - the dark circles under them reinforcing the madness of his expression. “Ooh, and what are you gonna do if I don’t? Get rid of me? Like everyone else? Don’t waste your time, do it. **Do it**! Or are you a coward like Sora was?”

The seconds the words were out, the keyblade vanished and Riku stepped back. “You’re right. I’m not going to waste my time. I need to find Sora.” 

“Wait-” Vanitas stumbled forward as Riku retreated. For a split second, his face fell, body shaking as his arms dropped to his side. Amber eyes shone in the setting sun in a mix of anger and something else, “Go on, leave like they all did! You’ll regret it! You can’t find him!”

Riku turned away and hurried back to his gummiship, Vanitas’s voice fading away in the background, “you know it, you felt it! He’s fucking dead-”, but he shook his head, vehemently ignoring the words thrown at him - the cries of a lost and abandoned soul, the wretched tears of a kicked animal, alone once more in this wasteland. Sora was out there and he would prove it, no matter what Vanitas was saying - lies and tricks, a master of deceit that fed on desperation and agony; Riku wouldn’t fall for it. 

Sora was out there, and he knew exactly who could help him locate his friend.

  
  


Radiant Garden was flourishing. He hadn’t come back since he had retrieved Naminé, but even in that short period of time, the city had changed a lot. After everything that happened, and the immense help that Ienzo, Leon and the others provided, the city was back on track better than ever. They had been granted further responsibilities and had formed a committee to help residents get their lives back. Ienzo - and Even- had particularly been busy, be it for the years lost or to make amends. And Ienzo was exactly who Riku was looking for.

Sora’s heart data had been used to find the three hearts that once inhabited the boy, but it surely could be used to track him as well. Riku walked past the guards without problems, he pointedly ignored the pitied glance they threw him as he hurried to the lab he knew Ienzo was using. When he found him, the man was hunched over the large computer in the room, reading incomprehensible data to the untrained eye. 

He knocked rapidly against the metal door, startling the scientist. “Yes?” Ienzo turned around to face Riku, flattening his coat as he did so. When he recognized his visitor, his stoic, professional expression fell into a saddened smile. “Oh, Riku. How can I help you?”

“I need to find Sora. Can you look into his data to see if you can locate his heart?”

Ienzo’s pained expression turned sorrowful, but the next second it was gone, a small smile adorning his face. “Of course, I will do what I can. Take a seat, it may take some time.”

He did just so, sitting on the hard hospital bed that used to carry the replica that would then become Naminé. It was hard and cold, an inappropriate bed for anyone. Next to him, he could see Ienzo type away on the giant computer, signs and words he didn’t understand appearing on the screen. The rhythmic sound was soothing, and Riku hadn’t felt so sleepy in awhile. Maybe he could take a nap-- 

**_ERROR_ ** . **_DATA NOT FOUND_ **.

He jolted awake at the blaring noise emitting from the computer, not seconds away after he closed his eyes. He jumped to his feet. “What’s happening?”

The hunched figure of Ienzo sighed, hands not moving against the board. The text on the screen flared red once more, blinking a few times before stabilizing on an empty page. “Ienzo, what’s happening?”

The man turned toward Riku with an expression so similar to the one Kairi had worn before bursting into tears and at this moment, Riku realized how young the scientist was - barely recovered from a childhood stolen, hardened by horror, yet so very fragile. “Riku,” his voice was steady, despite the shininess of his eyes. “There’s nothing.” 

“What do you mean nothing?”

“There’s no data. His heart is nowhere to be found.” 

Riku frowned, crossing his arms in the process. “If you can’t locate him, then he may have turned into a heartless; it happened before.” He nodded to himself. “You can’t locate hearts that have gone to Kingdom Hearts until you have defeated their heartless, that must be it.” 

Ienzo shook his head, fingers playing with the hem of his sleeves. “No, this is different.” He vaguely gestured toward the computer. “We can’t find the hearts that have fallen to darkness if we don’t have any prior data. But that’s not the case with Sora, we have all the data. His heart is simply…” he took a deep breath, “gone.” 

“Gone,” Riku repeated, without any emotions. 

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” The screen turned black behind him. He pushed a stray strand of hair behind his ear, looking at the ground. “Losing a dear one is arduous. You may need time to mourn and accept the reality of it but-”

“I’ll find Sora,” Riku cut him off, determination clear in his eyes. He didn’t believe a second of what the other had said. “He’s still there.”

The expression on Ienzo’s face was one of compassion and understanding, the pain clear in the way he looked at Riku. He shook his head. “Please, Riku. I know what you’re going through and-”

His hand shook, turning into a fist. “You don’t know anything!” He shouted. He pointedly ignored the wide eyes and biting of lips that stated otherwise and turned on his heels only to be stopped by a large hand on his shoulder and a body blocking his exit. He was ready to push aside, who he supposed was, Aeleus, but stopped short when he recognized the white coat and red scarf. He stumbled back and bumped into the hospital bed. 

“No need to be so agitated, my boy. Ienzo is not responsible for your loss.” 

Riku frowned. “My _loss_? Have you all lost faith in Sora!”

“Now, now,” Ansem the Wise entered the lab and took a quick look at the computer, Mickey in tow. Ienzo lowered his head, hiding his expression from all, and retreated farther into the corner of the room away from the conversation. “There is nothing more we can do. The boy knew the consequences and chose to discard his life for another’s. We can only honor his memory.”

“Honor his memory,” Riku repeated, jaw tensed. Nails dug harshly into the hard mattress of the bed, knuckles turning white. “Is that how you’ll make everyone forget the horror of your actions? Your failures and cruelty? One child for the life of countless others?”

He momentarily stopped to close his eyes and take a deep breath, he didn’t have the time to dwell on the abominations one man had caused, his friend needed him _now_ . He felt a hand against his wrist, _his bad wrist_ , and involuntarily slapped it away. When he opened his eyes, he saw the hurt expression of Mickey. “Riku…”

“Don’t,” he said. When he looked up, he met the pity he so dreaded in the eyes of the man that had ‘saved him’ once, or so he had believed. “You think you can brush it off as a hero fallen into battle, hide behind the praise and the glory of a king that gathered the saviors of worlds, when you’re actually the one who caused such calamity. Do you ever think about them? The children that died for your… ‘scientific research’?” He pointed at Ienzo who recoiled against the wall. “Or the one you exposed to danger, stole the childhood away from? You _ruined_ their lives and now you’re giving up on Sora too, after _everything_ he has done for you.” 

“Riku!” Mickey shouted next to him, eyebrows furrowed in disapproval. “That’s enough!”

The boy turned his face toward his friend and mentor, the one that had accompanied him through so much. Oh, the lies he had been fed. “Don’t you dare,” his tone was filled with anger and resentment, talking through his teeth, fingers twitching with the need to summon his keyblade, anything to protect himself from being exposed defenseless to the monsters he now saw. “I always thought you were an awful king, but the role suits you perfectly. Never the one to blame, never the one to fall down and pay the high price of his own actions - or lack thereof.

“How do you think Aqua cope with everything that happened, after spending so long in the realm of Darkness after _you_ left her there? I saw her pain, I felt it to my core. I know exactly what it’s like to be left, stranded alone without a light. You didn’t even spare her a thought - because she wasn’t needed. And now you’ll leave Sora to a similar fate, for what? I wouldn’t even be surprised if another Xehanort came through the door and you didn’t recognize him either. You had one job for all those years, and yet you couldn’t do it. Children had to be involved to clean up the mess. _Children_!”

He straightened himself, not bearing spending another second in this room. So small, so closed off, the air stagnant and the pity in the eyes that looked at him. Wolves in sheep clothes. “I will save Sora,” he stated before finally storming off.

He heard the shouts behind him as he walked, then ran, through the long corridors of the castle that now seemed so frigid, the doom and horror that had transpired there sipping through his skin like cold air. He had to go away, he couldn’t stand the sight any longer. The kind words and sympathy that meant nothing, the delusion and lies. It gripped his heart with a firm grasp and didn’t let go, couldn’t, even when he reached the gummiship and left Radiant Garden in a wobbly flash of light and fire. He was going to find Sora, he promised himself and the phantom of hope that illuminated his path, no matter what. 

* * *

When he reached Destiny Islands, the evening had slowly settled in. He had half a mind to go home for the night, but he felt restless. He would not be able to bear the sight of his weeping mother after whatever lies she had been told for the disappearance of a boy she had known since forever, nor would he be able to sit down and explain the tears that wouldn’t fell without breaking worlds order. He couldn’t possibly lie to her again.

Instead, he parked the gummiship away from prying eyes and fell down on the soft sand that covered the beach. It puffed and fell, slipping through the cracks of his worn shoes and clinging to his body. So familiar and simple. He wished it had never changed. No keyblade, no darkness, no worlds-travel. He felt like blaming Terra, for a moment, the what if’s of an ignorant childhood crippling his mind, but he knew better; he had given him the strength to protect what mattered, and in time it proved true. If only he still felt that way.

The anger that had surged within him hour prior had faded, for now, at least; he could feel it boil away in the pit of his stomach, needing only a word to erupt and engulf him again. It waited to strike. Hopefully, a night’s rest would subdue it for good.

On nights neither of them wanted to go home, they used to sleep in the old cabin farther up the beach. No one had lived there for years, but the last resident had kindly left all their furniture. Despite how ancient, and sometimes broken, some were, the bare necessity was usable. At this very moment, it was all Riku needed. 

However, when he reached the cabin, there was light inside. He walked to the door and distinguished two familiar voices. He did not want company, but an idea emerged in his mind as he contemplated his next move. He opened the door. 

“I’m very sorry we didn’t mean to intrude, we-- Oh, Riku,” a blonde girl sighed in relief. 

“Naminé,” Riku nodded in acknowledgment. He turned toward the second person, sitting on an old wooden chair. Her eyes were red and puffy after a day of crying, hair disheveled and lips bruised. Her usual glow was gone and left only the pale shadow of grief. Riku had never seen Kairi in such a state, it pained him. “What are you doing here?” He said instead.

Naminé flattened her dress before crossing her hands in front of her. “Kairi called me to see if I could find Sora through her memories and her heart - they traveled to many worlds together before they came back, maybe he would have ended up in one of them, or left enough of himself to be tracked. But I can’t find him.” 

She continued her explanation, a comforting hand on Kairi’s shoulder, but Riku stopped listening. _They traveled to many worlds together before they came back_ , she had said. They were here. Both of them. Alive and safe. Going around the worlds for what? Spend their last moments together? He had waited for months, worried and alone after the two people he cherished the most had disappeared, and all this time they had been around? 

Had they even spared him a thought, he wondered, fists curling at his side. Did she feel guilty for occupying all of Sora’s thoughts until the very end, when he had so many friends waiting and worrying for him, or did she feel glee? Were her tears necessary, after she had monopolized him, after being the only one granted the chance to say goodbye? She hadn’t been the one to sacrifice everything to get him back, whole and complete, and yet. 

“I’ll get him back.”

“Riku…” Naminé stopped, sadness in her eyes. 

“I’ll dive into his heart and bring him back. He is not gone yet, I know it. I can _feel_ it.”

“Riku, you don’t understand,” She stepped forward, hand gently extending toward him. Caring, motherly. He could feel the pity left untold. _She_ couldn’t understand, _none_ of them could. 

“He said it himself, his heart will never die,” he put a hand to his chest, memories of a younger boy facing him, keyblade-less, surrounded by friends that had, too, kept him all to themselves. He had felt so alone then. Helpless too. “ _I_ ’ll save him this time.”

“Stop it.” They both turned toward the third voice. Tears had fallen down Kairi’s face once more, smearing dark trails in their wake. They slowly collected on her chin, dropping one by one on her laps. She was biting her lips, fists gripping her skirt tightly. “He can’t come back and he knew it. He told me he could never come back to this world. He went too far.”

“And you’re content with that?” He spat despite himself. “You don’t even know half the thing he did for you, all those times, to get you back. Over and over again. But when he is the one that needs your help, you _give up_ after the first obstacle. I thought the princesses of hearts were brave, but I must have been wrong.”

“You have no right to talk to me like this.” She got up and stepped forward, finger pointing at Riku aggressively. “I trained and fought just as much as anyone else. I went through so much too and I never asked to be saved anyway! But you’re just jealous that Sora wasn’t yours alone anymore.”

“I’m mad that he almost threw his life away for you when you don’t even raise your pinky to search for him! What have you done today besides crying? Absolutely nothing! Naminé’s the one that did all the work here!” 

“Don’t you think I want to do more? If I knew how, I’d do it! But if Naminé can’t find him, I need to be realistic with myself. Sora can’t be brought back, he’s gone.” She lowered her head, shoulders starting to shake weakly as salty drops fell to the ground silently. When she spoke again, the anger had dropped. “I want him back more than anything. I love him so much it hurts; it feels like someone ripped my heart from my chest and shattered it in a million pieces.

“I feel awful I couldn’t save him like he always did, I’m a failure, I’m weak, _I know_ . And I didn’t know he would just,” she gestures vaguely, “disappear. He never said anything. I didn’t know about it and yet I feel so guilty! If he had told me sooner I’d have insisted he spent time with everyone. Especially with _you_!” 

She turned around and kicked in the chair she had been sitting on previously with a furious scream. “I’m so angry at him! He’s always so- so selfless and pure, but such an idiot!” She pressed her sleeves to her eyes and took a deep breath before turning back to Riku, tears wiped. There was none of the weakness she had talked about in her eyes. “I want him back just as much as you, but Sora’s gone and you can’t make me the villain in this. There’s nothing we can do, and taking your anger on me won’t make it better when you’ve finally accepted it.”

With trembling shoulders and twitching fingers, anger boiling in the pit of his stomach and pain coursing through his jaw, he closed his mouth before giving his thoughts the chance to get out. There was no point in furthering the discussion, it was going nowhere. And maybe there was some truth in her words, but Naminé wasn’t all-powerful either. She couldn’t find him, perhaps, but it didn’t mean Riku couldn’t. They had a bond, special and unbreakable, much stronger than that of a paopu fruit. He had gone to hell and back with him, _for_ him, and he would do it again, anywhere, anytime. 

He swallowed around the lump in his throat, bit his cheek to keep the words from cutting through flesh like butter, and with a single determined nod, he turned around. He stopped hand on the door and gave a quick look above his shoulders to the two girls observing him from afar, one sorrowful, the other standing strong through the pain, (he refused to acknowledge the anguish in their eyes). “I’ll bring him back.”

And with no more words, he exited, taking the direction of the beach. 

  
  
  


The place he found was slightly hidden away from the wharf, in case anyone decided to leave the islet - not that it’d mattered for what he planned on doing, they couldn’t have bothered him. He sits under a tree, canopy hanging so low it brushes the sand here and there. The wind is barely existent, the sea is still unbeknownst the fate of a boy that once ran through the dunes, whose laughter echoed in caves and name was engraved into stone and wood. The world had already started to move on. 

He cast a last glance at the sea they had desperately wanted to explore, unknown to them the danger and the pain that awaited. Their raft that had never left the beach, and the what-ifs of an adventure that could have saved them from the end of their world and the beginning of their journey, pushed away in his mind. They were but children then, adulthood now in arms reach. How quickly time had passed, and yet it felt like an eternity since they first left the Islands. 

With a sigh, he laid on his back, closing his eyes before he could see the infinite sky stretching above him, the glow of worlds his friend had seen and helped, where peace had been granted but had never been given back. He turned on his side, the warm sand a familiar comfort. 

Despite his turmoil, sleep came easily, and soon his mind drifted away.

  
  


When he opened his eyes, he was immediately blinded by a bright light above him. He covered his face with a hand and sat up, grunting. His body felt heavy as if he had woken up from a deep slumber, and maybe it was true in a way, it had been well over a year since he had been to the Realm of Sleep. 

He pushed himself on his feet and re-opened his eyes, far from the lamppost’s light. In front of him extended the first district of Traverse Town, void of any living creatures, humans and dream eaters alike. It was with disappointment that he noticed his Komory Bat was nowhere to be found, the sole companion he might have allowed by his side in his quest. He opened his palm and tried to summon him, but was only met with the wind passing through his fingers. He frowned, something was not right.

He summoned his keyblade by his side, tightly gripping its handle as he wandered through the district. Shops were closed, lights flickered, not a soul was out. No treasure chests, no items, no enemies. Empty, the town was completely and utterly empty. 

“Alone is the boy,” a voice came from above. He turned around immediately but there was nothing. “He doesn’t know where to look.” He was sure the voice came from the balcony above, but it was just as deserted as the rest of the town. “Pushed everyone aside and dived too deep, alone, alone, all alone.”

“Who are you!” He screamed as he pointed his keyblade toward the building. A laugh ringed right before him, a large crescent-shaped mouth appearing out of thin air.

“Who am I? My, my, a Cheshire Cat I am,” in a swirl of purple and pink, paws and fur and tail and body all emerged from nowhere on top of his weapon. A head slowly drifted down from the balcony until it slotted in with the rest of the body. With a large toothy smile, the cat looked down at the boy. 

Surprised and with a swift movement, Riku instinctively struck the newly appeared creature, going right through him. It disappeared in a puff of smoke that glided along the keyblade down to Riku’s arm and vanished behind him. He heard the voice on the railing of the stairs this time. “This is no way to treat a friend. Or am I a foe, it’s quite up to you.” In the blink of an eye, his head, and head only, was upside down. “I know where it is, the exit somewhere here, to the one that you seek. Three times must it ding for the path to appear.” With a last laugh, it faded away, leaving Riku more lost than ever.

“Wait!” He ran to the no-longer here creature in a vain attempt and sighed when he found nothing there. It’s only clue gone _somewhere_ . It had started to become a pattern in the last few days really, people being _somewhere_ but where. He pressed the heel of his palm to his left eye as his keyblade disappeared from his grasp; he had thought the Realm of Sleep would instantly teleport him to Sora or would give him a hint, but he must have been disillusioned, there was nothing but a talking cat that had, too, left him alone. 

With a resigned sigh, he turned on his heels and headed out to the second district - he had nothing to lose and he couldn’t leave this realm until he found a world in between, he might as well play along. 

He hadn’t been to Traverse Town much. The last time, it had been for that same purpose - jump between Sleeping Worlds and save Sora, and it hadn’t been a cruise. However, he remembered something about a bell that had to ring three times for the world’s keyhole to be revealed. He walked into the second district cautiously. It was as empty as the first one, that feeling of dread hanging upon his shoulders with each step - it definitely wasn’t right, it wasn’t the Traverse Town he remembered, even briefly. Looking frantically around for signs of danger, he rushed toward the Gizmo Shop. Before he reached the door, he jumped toward the nearest window. He grabbed the railing before kicking the wall and jumping onto the next. He ran vertically for a short period of time before he started losing his momentum and he quickly reached for the edge of the roof. He used all the strength in his arms to lift himself onto the roof where he knew the bell was, golden and shiny into the quiet night. 

With a hand on his waist, faint pain coursing through his body, he pushed the bell and stepped away as it swung back and forth until the loud sound echoed once, twice, three times, and nothing happened. Brows furrowed, Riku shouted to the infinite sky, the worlds he hadn’t want to look at now looking down on him. “Is this a joke! I did what the cat said and-” before he could finish his sentence, a vibrant beam of light pierced through the night and descended onto him. The sudden brightness disturbing the quiet eve shone brightly for a full minute until it exploded into a million sparks that burned away immediately. In its place stood a high and arched doorway, held up by marble white pillars. All around it was wrapped a deep green climbing plant, leaves dancing in the gentle breeze. 

The door itself was seethrough, but it had a shimmer to it indicating the presence of a portal. It somehow reminded Riku of the Corridors of Darkness the Organisation once used, but it lacked the dread and the sorrow that came with it - not that it wasn’t already grating at Riku’s heart and mind, but he denied their presences to the best of his ability. Without another glance, he took a deep breath and stepped in. 

The quiet of the night and the buzzing of lampposts was suddenly replaced by the sweet chirping of birds and the ruffles of leaves in the wind. Two golden statues loomed over him, shining bright in the rising sun of dawn. The sky married in hues of blue and pink over the coliseum. The place was just as Riku remembered, except for the gigantic tree that stretched higher than he had ever seen in the middle of the fighting pit. White tiles mingled with big dirty roots until nature completely took over, a collection of bright green foliages obscuring the sky above and mountainous landscape behind. 

The population that usually came with the coliseum and its events was nowhere to be accounted for. No Hercules, no Phil, no Pegasus. Not even Hades was around. As if the situation could not become any stranger, a loud bark that Riku could have recognized anywhere echoed higher up in the tree. It resonated down the bark and into the ground, omnipresent and yet very clearly coming from above. Out of old habits, he whistled back. 

The dog yapped in response but showed no signs of coming down, possibly too afraid of the height. With a sigh, Riku rolled up the hem of his pants and started the climb up the roots of the tree. It felt slippery and wet to the touch, like a morning dew on a tropical island, familiar to the boy struggling to ascend. He had not fought in weeks, but his waist and wrist were sore, slowly starting to go numb as the pain took over. He wished these odd dreams would have granted him a moment of rest from the all painful reality, but even in his sleep, the universe pushed him to the limit. 

What felt like an hour rolled away before he reached more stable grounds (if he could call a large uniquely shaped bough stable ground). There sat Pluto, the familiar yellow dog that he had become familiar with a few years prior, a welcomed companion. His tail violently swayed from right to left at the view of the boy, but he stayed put as he held a rectangular piece of paper into his mouth. 

“I’m glad to see you too,” Riku said with his first true smile in a while as he scratched behind the ear of the dog. He took the piece of paper that lacked the familiar Disney castle wax and unfolded it. “A friend-shaped pumpkin is the key to the spring,” he read before tearing the paper apart and throwing the scraps to the wind. “Riddles again!” 

He crouched down, his face in his hands, and yelled to no one but himself. He was exhausted and whatever trial he was undergoing wasn’t leading him anywhere; unknown worlds, awake worlds, it didn’t make any sense, and yet he was stuck there until he found a world in between, or until someone woke him up - which, given the way he was hidden on the beach, was impossible. He turned toward Pluto who had been looking at the trunk since the letter had been delivered. 

“Are you going to help me get out of here?” He asked, with the smallest hint of hope in his voice - it was all he had left anyway. Pluto glanced at him and nodded before rushing toward the trunk in a sprint. Before Riku could catch him, he jumped and disappeared through the wood. “Wait-” Without a thought to spare, he ran after him and passed through the trunk without a scratch. However, the hard ground that he had expected to found was nowhere to be seen, and he immediately sunk into too familiar burning sand.

He opened his eyes to the blinding sun of noon, yellow dunes after yellow dunes losing themselves in the sea of the vibrant blue sky. “Pluto?” He yelled, frantically looking around for his, once more, lost friend. He whistled, once, twice, not a print on the scalding desert that expanded below him. He blocked the sun from his face with a hand, eyes wrinkling as he focused to spot _anything_ on the horizon. Empty, yet again.

Then, a rumble. 

It started low and far away. It came in waves and ripples, the still grain of sands suddenly vibrating around him as he scrambled to keep himself from sinking. It grew stronger and nearer with each second, invisible to the untrained eyes, a mysterious danger hunting its prey. And then it stopped altogether.

Riku regained his footing, summoning his keyblade at his side to protect him from the incoming foe. The air felt heavy, sweat gathering around his face, hands turning moist, he held his breath as he prepared himself. 

“Oh no.”

Emerging from the ground right underneath him, the most gigantic mow he had ever seen, teeth bare and infinite void. It closed around him with a snap, and he fell.

The sand and wind turned cold, liquidy, and drowning. He flayed around but he barely moved, slowed and restrained, it was dark, so dark. For a moment, he longed for the welcome embrace of his own bed, the regret filling him like the water in his lungs. 

Until it all went away. In the pitch-black darkness, far away and oh ever so faint, a dot glowed. It felt unattainable. But by sheer will, his legs started moving as one, scally and quick, cutting through the water with ease. In a flash, he reached the glowing dot, a pumpkin carved with eyes and a smile that stretched wide, a jack-o-lantern he remembered from childhood tales. The pumpkin from the riddle. Without a second thought, he grabbed it. 

The current immediately changed, and instead of falling, suddenly Riku was pushed upward with immense force. In a jet of freezing water, he was propelled out and upward into the sky. Stars blinked awake above him in the light of the setting sun as fresh air rushed to fill his lungs. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a stony edge that he quickly grabbed before inevitably falling down. With what little force he could muster, he pushed himself onto the border and into safer grounds. 

“Oh wow, that is high,” he remarked as he properly sat and took a look around. At his feet extended one of the largest city he had ever known, and from past experiences, he remembered it as Neverland. He had never been on the clock tower himself, only been told by Sora once they had had downtime for themselves in-between battles and wars, but it fit perfectly his description. Except maybe for the round clock behind him that had been replaced by a strangely familiar reddish heart shape glowing yellow and the similarly yellow bear wearing a red shirt. 

“Think, think, think,” it said, tapping the corner of its head with its paw. “Think, think, think…”

Riku wiped the water from his face, looking curiously at the odd creature next to him. He vaguely remembered Sora mentioning someone alike, something _Bear_ . _Pooh Bear_!

“Pooh Bear?” He said, scouting closer to the… animal? plush? 

“Oh! Hello there,” He greeted, head lifting to look at Riku. He suddenly harbored a troubled expression. “Oh no, have I forgotten who you are as well? Think, think, think…”

“No, we haven’t met each other. What’s troubling you?”

“Oh, you see, I came here for a reason. But I got a rumbly in my tumbly and it’s very hard to think of anything but honey.” He sniffed the air and turned toward Riku, or more exactly, what the boy had been clutching in his hands. “Honey! Did you bring it here for me? That’s very kind of you.” Without leaving an instant for Riku to reply, he grabbed the jack-o-lantern filled to the brim and leaking with honey. 

“What- Oh, yeah, yeah, okay, you can get it.”

For a moment, they sat in comfortable silence. It had been a hot minute since Riku took a break, it had been quite a hectic night to say the least - and he couldn’t wait to get out and get back on his research. 

He breathed out.

“Oh, I remember now. I was following Sora.”

“Sora!?” Riku’s head turned so rapidly toward the bear he heard, _and felt_ , it crack painfully. “Where is he!?”

The bear lowered his head and touched his chest with a honey-filled paw. “He used to be right here, but he went away,” with a sorrow Riku couldn’t believe he was possible of, he continued, “so I followed his voice here, but the door was too scary.”

“A door? Can you tell me where it is?” 

“Oh, yes,” clumsily, the bear got up, pumpkin empty and forgotten. He stumbled along the edge of the clock tower and walked to the opposite side of where the clock was. There, indeed, a door stood. The smell was what struck Riku first, rotten and sulfuric. He didn’t need to see the dark purple and blue tendrils to know this door didn’t lead to a place of light - and it was exactly what he needed. 

“I’ll bring Sora back,” he announced before stepping toward the door. He lifted his hand to his own heart and nodded toward Pooh Bear. “I’ll bring him home,” and he walked through the door.

To say it was cold would be an understatement, it was _glacial_. He brought his hands to his arms and rubbed them in a vain attempt to warm himself. The door behind him vanished and left him on a minute islet floating in the middle of a violet sea. A single path stretched before him, slowly rising high and above the endless sea, fading away in grey smoke. He followed it.

His feet hurt. His wrist hurt. His waist hurt. His lungs hurt. His whole body hurt. And the path was neverending. He had long lost the sight of that lone islet, but the path only extended further into the mist. He was exhausted: yes, he was now in a world in-between, but he needed to find the exit, and he was slowly losing hopes that one even existed.

In a last desperate hike, he pushed further, legs aching, barely supporting his body that now felt numb all over. The door he found at the pinnacle wasn’t the one he had ever wanted to face again.

Monumental, spark white, stained-glass windows, brass handles, spade-shaped spikes, and that yellow heart that laughed into his mind. The Door to Darkness stood before him. He fell to his knees.

“I see we’ve found the exit,” a familiar mocking voice pointed out from above. On top of the door sat the Cheshire Cat, that same smile on his face, golden eyes sneering at Riku. 

“Nothing makes sense,” Riku growled, hands covering his face. “Those weren’t sleeping worlds or worlds I traveled to. I don’t understand why I was brought here.”

“But you wished to find your friend - it brought you where it all began,” his head rolled around the doorframe. “Where you left him and where he left you. The friends he made along the way and the memories he cherished.” With a chuckle, it vanished and reappeared on Riku’s laps. “The pieces he scattered and lost,” he pointed at the door with that last word.

“The Abyss…”

“Know what you’ll lose and what you’ll find, go back or go _home_ ,” He left a paw mark on Riku’s chest before disappearing once more, voice following behind. “A choice, it seems, a choice, but we know your heart and your mind are made up. You’re all mad, oh so mad, you’re all mad…”

As he left, the door creaked open, just enough for one man to come through. In between the spurs and twirls of darkness that pushed against the strong barrier that was the door to be free into the worlds, the light of a faraway moon reflected into the ocean pierced through the mass. 

“The Dark Margin…” Without a glance behind, Riku stood up and walked to it.

 _I know the road my heart walks_.

  
  
  


The sea here was unbelievably different from the one he had grown accustomed to, he thought as he stepped onto it, not yet sinking through the black mass that grazed his ankles desperately. It used to be warm and comforting, one morning he would row through it only to jump into it coming noon. It changed color with the time of the day, moon and sun casting their lights upon it gracefully, cradling its inhabitants and wonders. The deeper it went, the more fascinating it became, but he held the surface close to his heart, those times he would roll up the hem of his pants up and chase his friends between the waves. 

Yet, despite their differences, all seas had one and the same abyss that dug deep and was neverending. _That_ was his destination.

As he walked toward that dot of light, slowly sinking into the sea with each step, but never looking down, always forward, he had a passing thought for his family, for his friends. What would they think of him? One foolish boy hadn’t been enough? Kairi would despise him, he knew, she hadn’t deserved a word he had said. She didn’t deserve to lose both her closest friends either, though she and Riku hadn’t been as close those past few years. How they had grown and drifted apart - it pained him. 

Would she be alright? Riku knew he hadn’t, hadn’t been since Sora left that one evening; and understandably, he thought, he had been living for, _through_ , his friends for so long, he had lost himself - in another timeline maybe they have found a better way to bring him back, one where he didn’t lunge into the abyss. Maybe in another timeline he acknowledged his grief in time and reached for help. Maybe in another timeline, they reach their happy ending. _Oh, peace_.

Soon, his vision filled with darkness, somehow translucent. He could see his body being engulfed in a dark purple matter, dangerous but well-known, an acquaintance that never really left his side, as he slipped deeper and deeper. How did Sora feel when he drowned here, saved at death’s door by a tenant that had never asked to be saved himself - or maybe he had, Sora had always been skilled at recognizing the cry of a fallen heart. 

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” a voice came from behind, under, him. “You truly cannot be left to your own device.” 

Arms embraced him, strong, tender, familiar, the scent of death quickly replaced by the smell of smoke, of a fire on an isolated island, of the earth, burnt after a lava flow; the aroma of a friend that had always lived hidden inside, of a guide, a mentor once a foe, of someone he had missed. “I came to find Sora,” he said, head hung low as his descent came to a stop. 

“The boy is not here anymore. He does not belong to the Abyss, nor do you.”

“He came here last, I know it.”

He sighed. “His heart left for another world. In your current state, you may join him soon. Just look at you.” 

Riku lifted his hand to his face, the darkness steadily going away as if someone was willing them to. Where his flesh once was now stood the white outline of his body. Nothing left. 

“An old friend will bring you back to where you came from, but it will need to be caught in time for your heart to be released - though I wouldn’t be afraid of that, your friends always had a talent for this,” the embrace lessened until the arms holding him completely went away. “It is time to move on, boy…” 

A flash of silver and the world turned grey. 

Behind him, something gripped his shirt and pulled him from the water with incredible speed. The wind whipped at his face with force but there was no pain, there was nothing left to feel the pain. As he looked down at his chest, hollow from everything but his cracked heart, he breathed out. He could feel it, he could feel him. He was here, somewhere so close. He was right.

  
 _I’m coming, Sora_.

* * *

The night had been rough, to say the least. Something had bugged Kairi for hours, to the point Naminé had to step in and magically put her to sleep. It hadn’t been the grief or the loneliness, nor Riku’s words that, despite how she tried to convince herself, had hurt her deeply. No. She had been _worried_. Something in Riku’s eyes, it screamed of that same determination she had once seen in Sora’s eyes, the will to end it if it meant achieving one’s goal. 

The fear had stayed with her the whole night, call it instinct. She wished it was only paranoia but lying to herself was only becoming harder by the minutes. She did not want any of it to be true, losing her best friend had been hard enough, it would wreck her to lose another. Yet, somehow she knew already. Life had never truly been kind to her - what with throwing her into the role of damsel in distress at every opportunity or forcefully tearing her life apart and taking her loved ones away from her. Her parents, her grandma, Sora. All because of her. And to some degree, Riku would too. Driven by something else, yet, still her fault. 

_And she was tired of it_.

The wind picked up as she stepped on the beach in the early morning, dawn barely breaking over the horizon. The air got colder, the ground darker. The birds, agitated, flew away over the mountains as the ground shook. She immediately summoned her keyblade at her side. This wasn’t an earthquake, a volcanic eruption or even a tsunami. This was far greater.

Suddenly, something jumped out of the sea and rushed toward the beach. A long back cloak that dragged behind it in pink and white, a large staff with a heart-shaped hole through it and the deafening rattling of chains. Yellow eyes piercing through a skull-shaped mask looked right at her. _A lich_.

She had heard of them, Sora had told her about them in their short reunion, but she had also studied them during her time with Merlin. They were pureblood heartless, powerful and rare. Unlike other of their kinds, they did not consume hearts, rather they acted as a ferry for them to the Abyss, and the only way to free a captured heart was by defeating them. 

This one was different. 

In the usually hollow cavity of its chest, a body floated. Similar to Sora when he faded away, it was transparent, faint white dust covering it. And as the Lich got closer, she could see the deep pink heart in its chest, fractured and shattered in places, barely holding itself together for the sole purpose of finding its final resting place. At the sight, her own heart broke a little.

“I was right,” she whispered to herself, lips quivering as she suppressed the tears she could feel coming. “You really went and did it, but I would have done the same.” She laughed weakly, throat closing around the sound like a flytrap. She could feel her legs shaking as the monster flew toward her with a speed that rivaled an eagle, hell even a falcon, but instead of running away and letting someone else handle the situation, she gripped her keyblade with both hands. “Release my friend, _right. now_.”

And as the Lich drew impossibly closer, she kicked the sand and ran toward it with a shout powered by anger and sadness, heart-wrenching and ear-splitting. 

It only took a few seconds for the ground to become a battlefield. Fire coursed through the sand, water froze over, thunder echoed high in the sky despite it's brightness. Pink and yellow clashed against dark purple and blue sparks, giant paopu fruits appeared in thin air before all converging to one point and exploding in one beam of light, while fireballs flew to the opposite side of the beach, neoshadows spawning off the ground and running toward the girl that fought senselessly, eyes focused on that one target that mattered. 

She rushed through the tears and the blood, wet sand sticking to her cheeks, hair ruffled by the strong wind and burn marks all over her arms, her hand gripping her keyblade tightly as she jumped toward the weakened Lich and suddenly, a bright halo surrounded her as she screamed words filled with rage and desperation. It blinded the creature for a moment as it burst into million of golden flames to reveal large white wings unfurling behind her. 

“ _I. am. so. tired. of. you!_ ”

With one last strike of her keyblade, she pierced through the creature’s chest and pushed _and pushed and pushed_ until the body collapsed and she grabbed the inert body of her friend and jumped back before the Lich faded with a horrible scream in a black cloud.

She sighed.

The next moment, she collapsed to the ground, fingers desperately clutching at the disappearing garment that Riku wore. “You are so _selfish_ , you idiot.” She spat with resentment and pain. “You’re both egotistical, I’ve never asked for any of this and yet, I’m the one left alone. _Again_.”

A frail hand caressed her cheek, smearing blood and dirt over her face. “You became so strong, Kairi, how did I never realized that,” came the weak voice. 

She replied around a choked sob, “you only ever had eyes for Sora.” 

“Not always, no,” he shook his head slightly. “I tried to save you, at the very beginning, but I lost myself. You both saved me there, but it felt like _you_ only had eyes for _him_. It hurt.”

“We should have looked out for each other more…”

They stayed in silence for a while, hanging heavy, charged, so much left unsaid.

“You would have done it too, I know it,” Riku finally said. He answered her query before she could even ask. “Cast yourself away to find him. Leave me alone, _again_.”

“It was my turn to save him, you already did enough. I want to help too.” Her lips quivered with the words, tears threatening to spill at any moment. “I love him just as much as you do.”

“I guess we’re both pretty blinded, uh,” he laughed weakly, though it lacked any humor. “Would you do me a favor?”

“Do you think you deserve it?” She tried to joke, elbowing him gently. 

“Hmm,” he smiled, head falling into her laps. “At the Keyblade Graveyard, there’s Vanitas. He deserves a fresh start too. Would you go fetch him?”

“I lose my two idiots and get a new one... I believed you a better negotiator, that’s not a very good deal.” She pushed his bangs away from his face and pressed her forehead to his, she closed her eyes as tears slid down her messy face. “Of course, I’ll do it.”

He embraced her, arms hugging her as close as he could in his state. “Will you wait for me?” she whispered, voice breaking around the words. 

“Yeah,” He nodded, his own tears falling down his cheeks and dropping one by one in the sand as his body faded, small particles of light heading for the sky. “I’ll be waiting.”

  
  
  
  
  


When Riku opened his eyes, he was standing on an endless sea. The sky stretched far into the horizon, never-ending too, and the surface of the water reflected the trail of white clouds, accentuating the impression of infinity. He wondered if he would ever reach the edge of this world, if there even was one. He felt strangely light.

He turned around, searching for somewhere to go in this empty sea, and as if attached to a string, he felt his heart tug in one direction. He followed.

He walked for a long time, what felt like hours, yet he found he did not care. Peace had overtaken him, the onslaught of emotions of the past few days forgotten. He wasn’t desperate anymore to find Sora or devastated by that deep anger and sadness that had slowly eaten him from the inside. _Maybe because he already knew_.

Soon, something appeared on the horizon. A familiar twisted shape, with large leaves and star-shaped fruits at the top. And there, sitting facing away from him, _someone_. The colors were slightly off, slightly faded, in a similar way he was - an opposite to this bright and clear world. Odd, out of place, still hanging on a life that wasn’t anymore.

He ran to this figure. 

“You found me.” They said, a smile that rivaled the sun missing from their face, replaced by a somewhat sad grin. 

“I knew you were... somewhere,” Riku sat on the tree, eyes speaking of struggle and grief he dared not talk of. “And I found you.”

“You always did.”

“Yeah,” he nodded with a smile, relieved that his quest was finally over. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye,” Sora finally said after a moment. “I-” He turned his face from Riku, his voice so small, almost unrecognizable. “I couldn’t.”

The other boy only hummed. He put his hand on Sora’s, on the tree, linking their fingers together, an encouragement for him to continue. With a sigh, he resumed, “I couldn’t face you and tell you that was it for me. It would-,” He sniffled, “I couldn’t.”

He squeezed Sora’s hand. “I wish you had,” he sighed. “I missed you.”

The boy looked at him, and he seemed so much younger, there, defenseless and lost _._ It reminded Riku of that one time, not so long ago and yet what felt like eternity, when he had given up after all their friends had been taken away. He ducked his head to hide the tears, and with a voice oh so frail, he chuckled. “I missed you too, so much. I missed you so much Riku, I was _so alone_.”

“I know,” and he brought his hand to his lips and kissed the tanned skin. “You never learned to ask for help, always rushed headlong. But I guess I did too, and here we are.”

Sora hummed, wiping his eyes from the tears that hadn’t fallen. “Do you think Kairi will be okay?” 

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “But we’re sure to get an earful when she comes.” 

Sora laughed, and it was clear and bright, an echo of his past self, yet the misery of one’s selfishness and guilt still painfully obvious. He leaned his head on Riku’s shoulder, taking a deep breath before asking, “Riku, will you wait for her with me?”

“Yes, Sora.” With a squeeze of his hand, he smiled, the most genuine one in months. “Always.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you're still here, I'd love to hear your thoughts! This was my first time writing most of those characters and I'm very curious to know if y'all think I did okay. Also, yeah, I'm sorry, but I promised some friends I'd write some Angst _without_ a happy ending and also reach my 2020 of writing a 10k words piece, and here it is. Kudos and comments are so appreciated!!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/imnotanironwall) \- [carrd](https://imnotanironwall.carrd.co/)


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